Britain’s small businesses remain locked in a credit crunch half a decade after the dawn of the financial crisis, despite government efforts to ease credit conditions.

Interest rates on loans to small businesses rose in January to their highest levels since the time of the bank bailout in late 2008, the latest Bank of England data show.

Separate figures from the British Bankers’ Association reveal that the value of new loans to the country’s small companies fell to £1.47 billion in the final quarter of 2012, from £1.62 billion a year earlier. Analysts said the numbers suggested that efforts to